


The Sleep and Wake Adventures

by thegirlwiththemouseyhair



Category: Belsomra "Cats and Dogs" Commercial
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, POV Animal, Yuletide 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 09:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5370284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwiththemouseyhair/pseuds/thegirlwiththemouseyhair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I can't believe I'm writing a story based on a commercial with little personifications or rather catsonifications and dogsonifications of sleeping and waking, but this is the cutest commercial ever and I'm so glad we matched on this fandom. Thanks for prompting this, recip, and I hope you enjoy this adventure starring Sleep and Wake. Finally, many thanks to Bookwyrm for the quick beta.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Sleep and Wake Adventures

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sineala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sineala/gifts).



> I can't believe I'm writing a story based on a commercial with little personifications or rather catsonifications and dogsonifications of sleeping and waking, but this is the cutest commercial ever and I'm so glad we matched on this fandom. Thanks for prompting this, recip, and I hope you enjoy this adventure starring Sleep and Wake. Finally, many thanks to Bookwyrm for the quick beta.

Sleep was feeling like the human didn’t really _like_ her anymore, which was sad and a shame, so Wake suggested an adventure to cheer them both up and keep them busy while their human was out of the house. Sleep had been annoyed with Wake lately (why should the human cuddle with _him_ more, at all hours?), and at first rejected the offer by jumping up onto a high shelf and ignoring Wake. Then another dull day and night passed with no one to hold Sleep. As she surveyed the house from the top of the bookshelf, she supposed that she really shouldn’t fight with Wake and the human at the same time. Maybe taking him up on his adventure offer would be a good distraction.

They set out together the next morning, as soon as the human left to do whatever it is that humans do every day. Sleep had to admit that Wake was good about not holding grudges. She spent a few minutes grooming him after their breakfast, to show there were no hard feelings. He’d probably just get dirty again in a matter of minutes, but he seemed to appreciate the gesture.

“Let’s go now,” Wake said, just minutes after the human got into the car and left.

Sleep looked around the house, stretched, and agreed.

“Where are we going?” she asked once they were out the door. “Have you thought of _that_?”

She already knew the response – Wake wasn’t much of a planner – but the look on his face made her twitch her tail in satisfaction. It had been a rough couple weeks for her, without her human to cuddle at the _right times_ , damn it. It made her feel so – unappreciated. At least teasing Wake was good for a laugh.

“I don’t know,” Wake admitted, sounding a little confused. Then he wagged his tail. “I just thought we could have a look around. See how the neighbours are doing, or where the humans go, or something…”

Sleep did have an idea of where she wanted to go. Maybe – just maybe – one of the other humans’ sleep animals could help. She saw them around the neighbourhood, mainly cats like herself napping on porches or up in trees, especially on hot summer days when the humans didn’t have to go anywhere. If she and her person weren’t _connecting,_ it was possible that someone else had had a similar problem. She wouldn’t explain all that to Wake, but exploring, and meeting other sleeps, was as good a plan as any.

“Great,” Sleep said, with forced cheer which she knew Wake would not perceive. “A look around. I like that.”

And they were off into the green grassy yard and the well-worn sidewalk beyond. It was slow-going, because Wake was jittery as usual and wanted to run headlong after every squirrel or chipmunk he saw. Sleep had to dissuade him with a few angry meows. Then again, the grass looked so inviting for long, sweet, cool naps, and the sidewalks looked so inviting for long, sweet, hot naps during which she could soak up the sun. Sleep was more distracted than she liked to admit herself. She even caught Wake looking sideways at her a few times, tail tightening, and had to quicken her pace or look away from a particularly tempting sunlit patch. She couldn’t let Wake see her falter, though, so she trotted on.

They knew most of the animals in the houses close to them. The neighbours on their street had mainly sleep cats and wake dogs, although there was one eccentric young lady living in a house with a sleep bat and a jittery, multicoloured wake bird. The wake bird was hopping around in his cage by the front window, which made Sleep tense up a little to glare at him. Wake joined her for a while. Then he spotted a squirrel, a real one, foraging in a lawn across the street, jerked around, and started barking.

“Your _plan_ was to check out the neighours,” Sleep said, accusingly.

Wake halted mid-bark and turned back to her.

“That’s a neighbour,” Wake replied, but he sounded doubtful. Sleep glared at him.

“What could you possibly learn from an ordinary squirrel?” she snapped.

Wake looked down and shuffled his paws. They made crackling sounds in the dried leaves beneath them.

“I dunno,” he admitted. “Why are you so interested in the neighbours all of a sudden?”

“It was your idea,” Sleep said.

And Wake twitched his tail, but fell back into line behind Sleep. _That’s right_ , she thought. _Good dog._

They wandered back to the window where the sleep bat was hanging and where the bright bird was flapping. Sleep found herself tensing up just looking at Wake Bird and at Sleep Bat in the window – small and, well, tempting even though she knew they were safe behind the glass. Wake Bird stared at her through his beady eyes and hopped from one foot to the other in alarm. Sleep Bat didn’t so much as twitch in his sleep.

“Good morning,” Wake said. Sleep wasn’t even sure if they could hear him through the window until Wake Bird shook his head at them.

“We’re not dumb enough to let cats and dogs in the house, you know,” he said.

Sleep sniffed.

“That’s really rude – especially when you put it like that. _You know_.”

Wake wagged his tail.

“We just want to say hi. Meet the neighbours. Nothing bad… right?”

He looked over at Sleep, nudging her gently. _Darn Wake,_ she thought. _Way to undermine what we’re saying._

Wake Bird, however, would have been suspicious regardless. He shook his feathered head again.

“Sorry, we’re just not very comfortable with cats and dogs.”

“Well, you can’t have many friends in the neighbourhood, can you?” Sleep hissed. “Come on, Wake.”

The next few neighbours were uneventful, for the most part. They exchanged “good mornings” and other greetings, including the occasional growl or hiss with sleep and wake animals they had a history with. One house, a large, sprawling one that was rather off the beaten path, just begged to be explored. It was a little further from home than they’d ever wandered before. Maybe that was what attracted Sleep’s curiosity. To his credit, Wake followed her obediently up the weedy path.

“Wait, do we know those people?” he asked. “I don’t think we know them. Have we been out here before?”

Sleep rolled her eyes. “Do you have no sense of direction, Wake? No, we haven’t been out here before. We’re _exploring._ That’s the point.”

“Oh.” Wake skipped behind her on the pavement. “Well, I thought so, didn’t I? Isn’t exploring exciting?”

Sleep nodded absently. She could hear – but not place – a strange noise. It sounded like a very loud purring, like what a huge cat might make, but she wasn’t sure. Did the humans in this strange ramshackle house have a sleep cat she had just never met before? And what sort of cat would make that sound, even in the middle of a wonderful nap?

“Do you hear that, Sleep?” Wake asked.

“Of course I do…”

“They must really be snoring, huh?” Wake asked with a giggle.

Sleep rolled her eyes at him again, but wasn’t too distracted by his silliness to use caution and to slow down in approaching the big house. She flicked her tail to the side. Wake slowed his pace, too. Sleep hesitated for a moment, then jumped up onto the window sill, motioning Wake to follow.

“Oh my god…” they whispered in unison. Now they saw who was making the sound: a huge tawny sleep lion was curled up on the sofa snoring, as Wake had guessed. The sofa was nowhere near big enough to hold all of him. He took up every inch of it and still his giant paws, with claws sized to match, were stretched out on the floor by the window, just inches from their faces.

“Who has a sleep lion?” Wake asked indignantly. 

“ _Really_ ,” Sleep agreed.

Perhaps their chatter was too loud – _both_ of them; Sleep couldn’t blame this entirely on Wake. Whatever the reason, Sleep Lion chose that moment to wake up. He blinked his large eyes open as Sleep and Wake drew closer together, instinctively. Then Sleep Lion shook his dark mane and stretched out his paws, dangerously close to the glass shielding them – and he curled his lips into a snarl and roared.

Sleep froze. For a moment she did not even register what Wake was doing, but stood fixed in place with her muscles tensing to flee or to fight. The latter instinct won out. Sleep puffed out her fur, bared her own teeth, and, though she could not roar, let out as loud and roar-like a scream as she could, right in the lion’s face.

She had a moment to register his surprise before darting off, satisfied, but with her legs shaking as she ran and her ears flat back.

“I showed him,” she cried. “Did you see that, Wake? Wake?”

Sleep looked around. One ear was still pointed back, in case Sleep Lion had escaped and come after her, but the other ear swivelled around in concern. Wake was nowhere to be found.

“Where are you, Wake?”

There was only the singing of a couple of birds, the scratch of a squirrel in a tree, and the scratching of insects on the ground – real animals – in answer. There was no sign of Wake.

“Come on,” Sleep said, more alarmed now, “where are you?”

She found a thick, rather tall tree and climbed it to get a better view. Still she could not see Wake or any sign of where he might have gone: his paw prints would not show in the thick, tall grass of the lawns.

Sleep scrambled down from the tree, but she hesitated once she reached its base. Where could Wake have gone? Should she head further down the street in the direction they’d been going, or turn back towards home in case he’d fled that way? _He must have panicked, poor silly dog_ , she thought. She licked her lips in her anxiety. What would the human do if she came home without Wake?

Well, she had to find him. That was all. She looked up the road ahead and back towards their home. Maybe Wake had headed onwards automatically. She would go on, Sleep thought, her little heart pounding inside her.

But there was still no sign of Wake. Sleep kept all her senses alert and looked intently at every possible hiding place she could think of and at every animal she saw lest she should miss Wake. She lashed her tail and scowled at the street in front of her, trying to hide her nervousness. She hated to think how miserable the human would be if Wake remained lost – how hard it would be to explain, because the human was difficult to communicate with at the best of times, and Wake was an important part of the family. _Maybe more important than me…_ Maybe not: Sleep thought the human had missed her lately, too. And she, Sleep, was still at home. The human would miss both of them if they got lost, just as Sleep found she was missing Wake’s silly chatter and his excessive enthusiasm for nothing. _Stupid Wake; I need you_ back… It was a very doglike thing for him to do, getting lost.

Sleep traveled down another four or five blocks, without any sign of Wake. She was tart with the other sleep and wake animals she saw and spoke to, but she had to ask them, even if they had no useful information for her. She was beginning to second guess her decision, and wondered if she should head towards home and restart her search. Wake wasn’t particularly brave. Had he instead retreated homeward in his panic? _This is why we don’t go on adventures – I can’t take him anywhere._ Sleep sat down to scratch her ears, thoughtfully. At last she resolved to go just a few houses further before turning back.

She caught a potent, doglike smell on the wind and raised her head. She couldn’t tell if it was Wake or not. Dogs all smelled, well, doggy, even wake dogs, and this smell seemed to be coming from the backyard behind the neat little house with its coral siding. She leapt over the low hedge, charging into the backyard.

“Wake?” Sleep called.

And she saw Wake turn his scruffy brown head towards her, wagging his tail. He wasn’t alone. There were what looked like two other wake animals beside him, playing some sort of leapfrog game together. Sleep was too relieved to see Wake to pay them much attention. She ran towards her Wake, and he bounded to her until they met beside the hedge. Sleep even deigned to nuzzle his shoulder: it had been a very unusual day.

“Thank goodness you’re here, Sleep,” Wake said, licking Sleep’s ears.

“Thank goodness _I’m_ here?” Sleep scolded. “Thank goodness _you’re_ here and all right. Do you know what a fright you gave me? _I’m_ in charge, you know; I’m the responsible one, and I have to get us both back to our person safe and sound.” She swatted at his head. Wake looked at her with mournful eyes and gave another wag of his tail, but a slower one, as he did when he was nervous or when he felt, well, scolded. He deserved it, though. “And if _I_ made it out safe and sound and found my way, it’s no thanks to you. What were you thinking, just running off?”

“Sorry,” Wake said, shyly. “I panicked and just sort of – figured you’d know where I went. And you had everything under control so I – I didn’t think to worry about _you_.” He smiled, letting his tongue loll out. “You were even braver and scarier than that Sleep Lion. I never realized how amazing you’d be in a crisis.”

He was gushing about her. That was nice – nice to feel appreciated. Sleep purred.

“Thanks,” she relented. She meant it, too.

“Would you like to come meet my new friends?” Wake asked, indicating what Sleep now saw was a wake fox and, apparently, a sleep dog. The sleep dog was larger than her Wake, with two cheerful half-closed eyes peeking out from a mop of shaggy and rather curly fur. He reminded her of the grey mop their human used once a month or so to give the floors a good washing. The wake fox, meanwhile, was a riot of movement – scratching himself very rapidly with his paws, or sniffing the air between him and Sleep excitedly, or just twitching his handsome, bushy brown tail.

“They’re Wake Fox and Sleep Dog,” Wake said.

Sleep made a face. “Yeah. I figured.”

“This is my Sleep Cat,” Wake said, ignoring her and trotting back to his new friends. Then he raised his tail high with pride. “Sleep and I have been on an adventure – and she just scared off a Sleep Lion that someone had…”

“Ooph,” Wake Fox said. He had a rather high pitched voice, and even his slow sigh was rapid. He was sort of fun to watch, though Sleep was grateful her own Wake wasn’t quite so jittery. It might get annoying if you lived with someone like that all the time.

“You guys should have come to meet us first. We could have warned you about the Sleep Lion. Glad he didn’t give you too much of a fright – right, Sleep?”

He made a jerky motion of his head towards the sleep dog, who nodded. Sleep and Wake said nothing for a moment, so their two new acquaintances returned to their game,or rather Wake Fox’s game of jumping over the lazy sleep dog. His bushy red-brown tail brushed overSleep Dog’s shaggy head. Wake peered at them, wagging his own tail. Sleep knew from his expression that he was wondering whether he should join in. She, on the other hand, simply turned up her nose at the canines. She was about to tell Wake that they should leave when Wake Fox turned to them again.

 “You can play too, you know,” he said, scratching himself. “Or just hang out. I want to hear more about your adventures.”

So he was perceptive, for all he was so jittery. Sleep looked him over again. He had a keen, bright look in his eyes. 

“Well, we’ve already had some exciting stories,” Sleep replied.

“Like Sleep Lion,” Wake added.

“Are you two just adventuring for the sake of it?” Wake Fox asked.

Sleep gave a little purr despite herself. She was growing fonder of Wake Fox – fond enough to think of him as a new friend who would be worth walking over to visit, sometimes. She was a little surprised at herself. She didn’t make new friends very often, and yet, she wanted to adopt Wake Fox as one.

“Wake,” Sleep said, “why don’t you take over the game with Sleep Dog? I’ve got to tell a secret to Wake Fox…”

“Can’t I be in on the secret, too?” Wake asked.

“It’s going to be a surprise,” Sleep lied.

Wake Fox caught Sleep’s eye. Shelooked at him solemnly, hopinghe could help – hoping he was worth, well, _confiding_ in, and that she wasn’t misplacing her trust. He nodded, too small and controlled a gesture for Wake to notice, or Sleep Dog, if he’d been paying attention. He gave Sleep a wink.

 “It’s a secret for you and Sleep Dog here,” he added. Sleep grinned. Wake Fox didn’t miss a beat. Wake wagged his tail to signal that it was okay for them to leave, and Sleep Fox wagged his own lustrous and beautiful tail as he took Sleep aside.

“Are you okay?” the fox asked when they were a little further away from the two dogs. “You look a little shaken about something, if you don’t mind me asking, and I don’t think it’s about your Wake Dog since you found him a few minutes ago, or about Sleep Lion, since that problem’s passed, too.”

“And I wasn’t scared of him,” Sleep insisted.

“That too,” the fox said, scratching his ears again so quickly that she could feel the force of his movements. He was good, all right. Smart as a fox, to know that she was worried about something else, not Sleep Lion, who seemed like ages ago now.

“I hope you’re as clever as you seem,” Sleep began. She thought again of why she had agreed to this adventure in the first place and had to look away. Maybe she should have confided her problems in Wake first. He did know their human, whereas Wake Fox and Sleep Dog and all the other neighbourhood animals had other humans. And Wake had been with her all her life. She did have to look after him. The lion incident, and Wake being lost temporarily, had reminded her of that.

But Wake Fox seemed much, much smarter. It _would_ be nice to have someone clever to bounce ideas off.

“Is that a compliment?” Wake Fox teased.

Sleep flicked her tail. “Well, you seem very clever for a canine. The smartest animal I’ve met today, in fact.” Actually, she knew cats who weren’t as clever – plenty of them.

“So try me.”

“I just wanted someone –” Sleep began, then hesitated. Her fur bristled. She tried again. “How do you get on with your human? And do you ever hear about sleeps or wakes feeling disconnected from their humans?”

She was surprised that Wake Fox answered as soon as he did. Then again, she shouldn’t have been: he was that quick.

“Of course,” he said, in a sympathetic tone that made Sleep want to bare her teeth. She held back, though.

“We talk to all sorts here,” the fox went on. “Well, mainly me. I like meeting new friends, and our street’s on a sort of crossroads between two neighbourhoods, so I’ve chatted with lots of sleep and wake animals. Lots of them get sort of disconnected from their people sometimes.”

Sleep hung her head. His words reassured her to some extent, but she still didn’t want to look at him, not while talking about such a sensitive subject.

“Even you?” she asked.

He gave a little yipping, laughing bark and took a step closer. Sleep peered at him. He looked as if he were about to give her a friendly nudge or lick or something, but she drew back. It was nice of him, in a very doglike way, but that was _way_ too personal. He saw her stiffen and backed off, which Sleep appreciated.

“Well, I wouldn’t let that happen,” he said, cheerfully. “I’d just bounce up and lick and nudge them until they paid attention to me.” His tongue lolled out as he grinned. “Even Sleep Dog knows to do that – he’s had problems of that kind. I had to encourage him, but even he learned not to let the humans ignore him.”

“That simple?” Sleep asked. 

Wake Fox gave a jerky nod of his head. “Try it when you get home. And when you guys come back to visit, let me know how it goes.”

She should have thought of that herself. But at least it was something she could try right away. Maybe she would come back to visit Wake Fox tomorrow and report on her progress. She made a face, realizing that that would be reporting to, well,a canine – but if he could be a friend and help her and Wake, that might not be so bad.

It was an awful lot to think about. It had been a day full of things to think about, and to do, and Sleep realized that she was exhausted, from the top of her head to the tip of her tail. She yawned. When she recovered herself she drew closer to Wake Fox and butted her head against his chin, affectionately.

“You’re an awfully clever canine,” she repeated. “I think I will come back with Wake, and tell you what happens, and we can even play together – the four of us.”

Wake Fox wagged his tail.

“I’d like that very much. Happy to help, too.”

Sleep had to stifle another yawn.

“I’m just really _tired_ ,” she murmured. “I think I should collect Wake and take him home now.”

“You’re much livelier than my sleep,” Wake Fox said.

Sleep beamed in pride.

“I should make up some excuse for why we went off…”

Wake Fox slowed his tail wagging, but was still grinning.

“I can do that if you like. I’ll tell them we’re planning a party for the special dogs in our lives, and it’s a surprise party, so you’ll just have to visit often to find out when it is.”

Sleep purred. Something in her whispered that it was nice making new friends, even if it was exhausting, and would require copious naps to recuperate.

“You’re sort of a dog, though,” she said.

Wake Fox yipped – in amusement or protest; she wasn’t sure.

“Not exactly. Anyway, you two might want to head back now – though you’re welcome to rest a bit here, if you like.”

“Oh, please,” Sleep said, and she didn’t mean it sarcastically.

Wake Fox led her back toward the others. She butted her head against her own Wake, who looked surprised, but licked her. Then she found a sunny spot on the porch and curled up to rest.

*

When Sleep and Wake returned home after their adventure and after Sleep’s refreshing nap, it was almost time for the human to come back from wherever humans go. Sleep dozed a little more on her favourite spot beneath the window. She assumed Wake settled down to rest, too, because the day had been such a busy one. Still, Wake woke Sleep up with a gentle nudge shortly before it was time for the human to return home, and when she did, Sleep attacked her human with a flurry of head butts and purrs and nudges. It worked: the human scooped her up in a hug. She paused for a moment, bent over awkwardly while still holding Sleep to stroke Wake’s head a little, before heading straight to the bedroom for another nap with her own, dear, sleep cat. Sleep curled up against her chest and purred all the while, even as she drifted back to sleep herself and dreamed of the human and of adventures with Wake and of new friends to help all three of them.


End file.
